The partnership is the latest example of a growing trend in the artificial intelligence industry, where semiconductor companies are investing directly in AI developers that rely heavily on their computing infrastructure. Nvidia, AMD’s biggest rival in AI processors, has also been exploring a major investment in OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT.
For Anthropic, the deal provides access to critical computing resources needed to train and operate increasingly advanced AI systems. The company has become one of Silicon Valley’s leading AI startups, driven by growing enterprise adoption of its Claude models and products such as Claude Code.
“This is strategically significant, as each win deepens AMD's credibility as the number-two to Nvidia and supports the slow, steady share gains underpinning its AI growth story,” said Emarketer analyst Jacob Bourne.
Under the agreement, Anthropic will purchase up to two gigawatts of AMD’s next-generation Instinct MI450 chips, with deployments expected to begin in the first half of 2027. AMD’s investment in Anthropic will depend on the company reaching specific deployment milestones.
AMD executives have previously noted that one gigawatt of computing capacity — enough to power roughly 750,000 U.S. homes — can require investments in the tens of billions of dollars, highlighting the enormous cost of building AI infrastructure at scale.
Following news of the agreement, shares of Santa Clara, California-based AMD rose 2.4%. The company’s stock has more than doubled in value so far this year as investors bet on its ability to capture a larger share of the AI hardware market.
The Anthropic partnership follows another major AI agreement announced by AMD in October with OpenAI. That multiyear deal is expected to generate tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue for AMD while giving OpenAI the option to acquire roughly 10% of the chipmaker.
Anthropic Races to Secure More AI Computing Power
Anthropic has been aggressively seeking additional computing capacity as demand for its AI services increases and competition in the industry intensifies.
“Access to compute is central to keeping Claude at the frontier and meeting demand from our customers,” said Tom Brown, Anthropic’s co-founder and head of compute, on Wednesday.
The company has taken several steps to expand its infrastructure. In May, Anthropic agreed to lease the full computing capacity of SpaceX’s Colossus 1 facility in Memphis, a data center equipped with more than 220,000 Nvidia processors and capable of providing 300 megawatts of additional capacity.
Anthropic is also reportedly exploring other major infrastructure arrangements. Meta Platforms is in discussions to potentially lease computing power to Anthropic in a deal that could be worth up to $10 billion over two years, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Under the AMD agreement, Anthropic is expected to use some of the company’s chips in its own data centers while also accessing additional computing capacity through cloud providers and emerging AI-focused cloud companies, according to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported details of the arrangement.
AMD was also reportedly discussing ways to provide financial support for Anthropic’s future data center leasing commitments, reflecting the increasing scale of investment required to support the next generation of artificial intelligence services.
The partnership underscores the intensifying race among chipmakers, cloud providers and AI developers to secure the computing resources needed to lead the next phase of artificial intelligence growth.